Referendum

Renovating The Learning Experience: Coming Summer 2022

By: Alex Coley

Summer is often a time where people make changes for the next year, and Hilton Head Island High School is no different. The summer of 2022 will bring a lot of changes to HHIHS, and the theme of the season is safety!

Mr. Schidrich, principal of HHIHS, outlines the changes that are going to be happening while the students are out for the summer. He says that “we have some blind spots that we want to cover to provide a bit of security...a bit of safety for our students and staff,” and these blind spots are HHIHS’s top priority for the renovations this summer.

He goes on to list all the improvements that are going to be made to the building including additional security cameras, bidirectional amplifiers for administrative radios, new bleachers in the gym, and renovations to the front entrance. In his words, these improvements are “definitely [going to] improve safety and keep the building secure,” which is something that all parents want for their children---security.

The renovations to the front entrance will make it safer for the ladies at the front desk. Most schools built after 2000 have a "holding tank," or 3 doors of entry before entering a school. This provides an extra layer of defense and time to analyze individuals before allowing them into a school building. The new front entrance will have a form of this "fish tank" layer of security.

Although these renovations may seem minor to some, there is a reason. While safety is one of the highest things on HHIHS’s checklist, the school is also trying to think ahead. “When we borrowed the money [from the 2019 Referendum],” Mr. Schidrich explains, “there were plans to upgrade the security and safety of our school, but with the potential for a new referendum in November of 2023, we didn’t want to put something new in the building only to have it knocked down two or three years later,” as that would be “a waste of taxpayers money.”

With these thoughts in mind, the school has chosen to focus on safety instead of improvements that would be included in the new facility, like cosmetic improvements to classrooms and any structural changes. Mr. Schidrich elaborates stating, “the [money] was put on things that will keep us safe [and] will keep our technology similar to other schools.”

In regards to why the school is choosing to complete these over the summer, the reasons largely revolve around the COVID-19 pandemic. These renovations were supposed to have occurred during the summer of 2021. However, last summer a lot of materials were not available to the school because of supply shortages. Many of those issues got resolved, but not until school had already started. According to Mr. Schidrich, “[the materials] were available at some point during the school year, and some of these things could have been done during the school year, but that would have been disruptive to the instructional process.” At HHIHS, the focus is on teaching the students as efficiently as possible, so making changes to the learning environment would most likely only distract students from their studies. However, the installation of the bleachers will not be completed until after students return to school.

Students, staff, and families of HHIHS are excited as almost all the renovations are predicted to be completed before the start of the 2022-2023 school year. However, in order to bring HHIHS into the 21st century on all modern security measures, technological infrastructures, 21st. century classrooms and building layout, there needs to be a new school building. This is why the November 2023 Referendum is so important to the community, and HHIHS needs the community's help to get a new school building. HHIHS is currently the oldest high school building in Beaufort County, having been built in 1983.